HC Deb 06 June 1957 vol 571 cc145-6W
Mr. Brockway

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) in which Colonial and Trust Territories community development officers are recruited from the indigenous populations in each territory, respectively; and the number in each case;

(2) in which Colonial and Trust Territories full-time community development officers are employed by the respective Governments concerned;

(3) which Colonial and Trust Territories provide establishments for the training of community development personnel; on what basis students are selected for training; and the number of students from the indigenous populations receiving training in each case, respectively.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

As I explained in my reply to the hon. Member's Question of the 7th March, community development covers many aspects of government and consequently involves several Government Departments as well as voluntary agencies and the people themselves. In some territories community development has been adopted as the name of a specific department; in others, the work is carried out as part of their normal duties by officers of several departments working as a team.

In both cases, Government officers, the majority of whom are recruited from the indigenous population, are engaged full-time on community development work though they may not be officially designated as community development officers In addition, voluntary agencies cooperate extensively in community development work. For these reasons, it is impossible to give accurate figures for the number of persons engaged in community development work at any given time.

Because of the very nature of community development work, training for it in junior posts must be carried out to a large extent on the job, or at small centres as near the actual work as possible. Participants who show special aptitude are selected for further training at larger centres such as the Jeanes School in Kenya, Nzamisi in Uganda and Awgu in Eastern Nigeria. Up-to-date information about the numbers of persons receiving training in these and similar institutions is being obtained from the Governments concerned and I will write to the hon. Member when I have received their replies.